Installing and configuring AWS CLI

Overview

AWS CLI is a command-line tool for uploading, retrieving, and managing data in Amazon S3 and other Cloud Storage Service Providers that use the S3 protocol such as DreamObjects. It's best suited for power users who are competent with the command line and is ideal for scripts that are automated and triggered from cron.

The following instructions help you install and configure AWS CLI to work with DreamObjects.

Install Python 2.7.15 or newer

Due to a kernel update with Ubuntu, you must install Python 2.7.15 or newer in order to create a virtualenv. View the following articles to install a more recent version of Python:

Installing AWS CLI

Mac and Linux computers

Mac and Linux machines can install aw-cliby running the Python “pip” command. The following shows how to install aws-cli on a DreamHost server, however steps are the same for Mac and Linux machines.

DreamHost servers

To install the client on a DreamHost Shared, VPS, or Dedicated server requires the use of Python's virtualenv. Once the virtual environment is created and active, you can then use 'pip' to install the AWS CLI client locally.

Create a virtual environment for a specific DreamObjects bucket. This virtual environment will store your DreamObjects bucket's credentials. This example names the virtual environment after your DreamObjects bucket name. The following command also assumes you've installed a custom version of Python as mentioned above. You can then specify the full path to your local install when creating the virtual environment.

When you activate the virtual environment, the command prompt changes to show it's active. For example:

(my-bucket)

Install aws-cli.

(my-bucket) pip install awscli

Finally, update the permissions on the new 'aws' directory so you can run aws commands.

(my-bucket) chmod +x ~/my-bucket/bin/aws

You can now proceed with configuring it to use your DreamObjects bucket.

Configuring AWS CLI

Run the following command to input your Access and Secret key for your bucket. aws-cli stores them encrypted for you. Accept the 'Default region' and 'Default output format' by hitting enter. You do not need to enter anything for those fields.